and all that's best of dark and bright
by appleschan
Summary: -h


for ilovebks.＼ (＾▽＾(＾▽＾*)o (remember november? regency au for u)

i don't own bleach and she walks in beauty. ooc. soc. slightly nonlinear.

and all that's best of dark and bright

by appleschan

* * *

i.

Happy stories and sweet dreams and daisies and bel canto: Lady Rukia's days of childhood were gold-burnished and her nights were draped in lullabies.

Of course, there is _ballet_ , a romance of movement. She studied ballet where it's blood and diamond and fine lace, and so she learned to dance in shards and stars. After all, it won't be as much of a romance without a bit of sacrifice –as she has come to know. Plays and beautiful theatrics and librettos and romantic dances teach her endlessly about _love_ and _sacrifice_ and _giving_ and its poetic relatives.

(and how easily they do not matter compared to wealth and titles and business expansions and how all these make sense in the face of an advancing nation; there are far more important things, tangible things)

Rukia is not a romance-idealist. Rukia knows trade and regency. Rukia does not believe in love, but she knows about it, it's fine being used in stories and tales. _Romantic_ is only as good as its use for heightening a description.

* * *

ii.

Nor does Earl Ichigo believe in love and giving and in its unnecessary complications. It's just an idea, a concept, much like destiny and fairness, it is fine presented as a charming idea –like it really is- and should stay as that.

And his childhood is a bit gloomy; his mornings weren't gold-burnished, his nights weren't filled with lullabies.

In his entry to adulthood, it rains frequently in his county, his big sailboat is hardly sailed; his horses are kept in his stables. His Grand Tour was dull and unfinished –he went home right after Naples. He has never been exactly interested with a girl from any reputable family.

* * *

iii.

(morning after the accidental sail-away)

There are outrage stories circulating the ladies of courts and balls and parties over teas and pastries: the Kurosaki boy and the Kuchiki girl, and how they are both doom and gloom and too serious and too young and how surprising that they actually harbor intimate feelings for each other and it's most definitely a love affair but what scandal –to leave unwed.

And there are stories circulating the stables of horse-racing and gentlemen of the exclusive society meeting in pubs: the Kurosaki boy and Kuchiki girl, only one: how much wealth their union would have generated, but what scandal –to leave unwed.

* * *

iv.

 _Eighteen_ makes the girl ready and polished for womanhood, her late sister said.

The completion of her education was _purely_ stellar. She remembers all the languages of her childhood and what her teachers taught her; she had danced in beautiful courts and balls; memorized the peerage; sang and painted; went onto her version of Grand Tour with her Marquess brother and chaperons and had come home (in a taffeta dress the latest design from the French court and satins and laces and more taffeta) remembering the sights and Italianate antiquities in perfect recall.

Lady Rukia, eighteen, had _come out_ , beautifully so, impressing a line of bachelors at once, earning multitude of invitation to court parties.

Marquess Byakuya expected no less, a flower blooming madly –holding the Queen's hand.

Now a lady of court and a budding young ballerina, a status marriage is most certainly underway.

* * *

v.

On the other hand, the Earl stayed in his quiet place. The center of the city shines too bright and gossips too loud and acts too bothersome.

(in here he stays with his vacationing friend from Granada, a gallant yet quiet man named Chad and there is enough understanding in few words exchanged between them; they are very good friends; Chad likes his _naturesque_ estate. His family, though, is currently spending a summer in Rome)

The Earl only completed his education primarily because it was necessary, high men and their elevated taste of finery. He knows few languages: one from central, one from eastern, one from western and one from southern; enough for him to manage home if he's ever lost. He's hardly seen in court parties except the mandatory ones, and never dresses himself fancy (and he regularly declines dance invitations, stating flat feet as the cause).

The Earl, twenty-three and unmarried, does not show much interest to ladies, but attracts attention from them nevertheless.

.

.

.

A week later, both families –the Earl and the Marquess- and the rest of the members of the regency received an invitation for a grand ball at the Queen's courtyard.

Lady Rukia's stylists are thinking of importing the best fabrics from East Asia and commissioning designers from Versailles and obtaining rare pearls from the Caribbean; are busy making Lady Rukia the brightest in the ball. The Queen's invitation is locked away in a desk made entirely of quartz and amethyst and silver.

Whereas the Queen's invitation lays meek atop the small wooden creaky desk in the Earl's drawing room while he's outside busying himself with painting his horses' stables sky blue, his household planting sunflowers and Chad building birdhouses.

* * *

5 of 20


End file.
